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Turquoise Cotinga | Cotinga ridgwayi
Ridgways cotinga | Cotinga turquesa
The Turquoise Cotinga is a small blue cotinga of forest edges and semi-open country on the Pacific side of southern Costa Rica and western Panama. The male is glossy turquoise-blue with purple on throat and belly. Its small range lies entirely within the guide area.
Voice
Usually silent. In flight the male's wings can produce a soft whistling or rattling sound.
Recording: Johan Chaves — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
18 cm. The male is glossy turquoise-blue, with black spotting on the upperparts where the dark feather bases show through. Throat purple and a purple patch in the centre of the belly. Wings and tail black with blue edges. The female is dark greyish brown above with pale feather edges and paler buffy brown below with dark spots. Round head, dark eye, short black bill.
Confusion species
Lovely Cotinga Cotinga amabilis is very similar but lives on the Caribbean side from Mexico to Costa Rica; Blue Cotinga Cotinga nattererii lives in central and eastern Panama. Their ranges do not overlap, so location settles the identification.
Habitat
Edges and canopy of humid forest in the lowlands and foothills, also tall secondary forest, pasture with scattered tall trees and plantations. It eats mainly fruit. It often sits motionless for long periods on a high bare branch.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Pacific slope of southern Costa Rica and western Panama (Chiriquí). Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Mainly found in south-western Costa Rica, for example in the Río General valley and around the Golfo Dulce. Scanning forest edges and scattered tall trees pays off, especially those with ripe fruit.
Conservation status
Vulnerable. The range is small and the forest on the Pacific side of southern Costa Rica and western Panama has largely been cleared. Numbers are declining.
Scientific name
Cotinga ridgwayi | Ridgway, 1887
Ridgway described the species in 1887 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Cotinga was introduced in 1760 by Brisson. Cotinga comes via French from a Tupi name for these birds, by the usual account meaning 'washed white'. ridgwayi honours the American ornithologist Robert Ridgway (1850–1929). The specimen the first description was based on came from Pozo Azul (Pirrís), Costa Rica.